In many woodworking traditions around the world, wedged mortise-and-tenon joints have long been a way to join wooden components without the use of glue or metal fasteners. Basically, driving in wedge-shaped bits of wood exerts enough force to keep two or more pieces locked together. The results are strong, durable, and visually beautiful.

For novices, however, crafting this kind of joinery can be hard to pull off, whether you’re putting together a table or a much, much larger structure. So when companies produce kits that make assembly with wedge joints a snap, it’s always notable — especially when the resulting structures look this cool.
The HexBox Canopy is a modular system of prefabricated hexagon-shaped boxes made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) plates that join together into beautiful undulating pavilions. The components all have slightly different shapes and sizes, coming together sort of like a puzzle to form rounded shapes. That makes it possible to build arched spatial structures like vaults and domes without the use of concrete or vertical supports. Plus, it eliminates some of the trickier parts of building vaults and domes the conventional way, like the use of formwork.
HexBox aims to rethink that building process altogether, taking advantage of the innate strength of newer forms of engineered timber. Since drawing, calculating, and cutting the components by hand would be far too complicated, each structure starts with computational design a...